Port St. Lucy – Many talented players have arrived at the Mets for decades. He's a Hall of Fame among them, but he wears the “Generation” label that was posted on Juan Soto this offseason.
The buzzword was the Mets president of the baseball business, David Stearns, who used it in an interview with team owner Steve Cohen in the summer of 2023.
At that point, Soto was still playing for the Padres and was away from free agency for more than a year, but he fits Cohen and Stearns' vision for the Mets.
“We talked about some of the players in the game generation and the difficulty of accessing some of those generation players. “We didn't know where this was going and he made some kind of extension. We didn't know if we would get it, but if he becomes a free agent, we're going to be a very strong push.”
Ultimately, that push included a record $765 million guaranteed over the next 15 years. If the Mets pay Soto to prevent him from opting out after the fifth season of the contract, this is a total of $85 million.
The award is a 26-year-old outfielder who fits in neatly into conversations with players such as Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge about the game's biggest talent.
And next week it's time for the new Mets star to finish his win lap in the winter and start spring. The pitcher and catcher team's first training will be on Wednesday.
My first full squad workout is Monday.
The Mets will be more than Juan Soto's show, but starting with the All-Star outfielder, the team quickly faces Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso and Mark Vientos in the lineup as the main reason for their optimism last year. A surprising surge to move NLCS.
Other important return batsmen include Brandon Nimo, Francisco Alvarez and Jeff McNeill.
Batting in the same lineup as the Yankees judge, Soto generated a .288/.419/.569 slash line with 41 homers and 109 RBIs.
His season ended in the same way as the Mets.
In the case of Soto, it was the World Series, and he owned 1.084 OPS in five games.
For the next six weeks, Soto will become acclimated to his new environment before the game counts.
All of his moves are scrutinized by a passionate fan base.
But if the Mets end the World Series title drought dating back to 1986, it will take pitching.
And on paper, the starting rotation does not seem to dominate. Certainly it is quite inferior to the Ohatani, Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow units assembled by the Dodgers.
And there are also a few rotations for the Phillies, including Zach Wheeler, Aaron Nora, Christopher Sanchez, Ranger Suarez, Jess Luzardo Rotation.
The Mets re-sign Sean Mania after a strong left-handed season and add him to Kodai Senga – returning from the regular season where he pitched just 5¹/₃ innings to form the top of the rotation .
Frankie Montus, Clay Holmes, David Peterson and Griffin Canning are expected to form the back from the middle of the spinning.
AJ Minter was the team's biggest offseason bullpen addition, with Ryne Stanek being re-signed and adding an additional high-leverage arm before Edwin Diaz. Apart from that trio there are many question marks.
Under Stearns, the Mets continue to try and win now, building their foundations with younger players. He considered his option as a free agent, and is a plan presented to Soto.
“Juan was in enough organization and he was certainly around the league, so he has a pretty good feeling about what leads to sustainable competitiveness,” Stearns said. “I think he felt our vision was consistent with him.”
